Kidney Stories

Tell us your story. If you would like to share your story about living with kidney disease, being an organ donor or transplant recipient, or being a caretaker, we’d be happy to feature it here on our Web site.

Other people living with kidney disease can benefit greatly from hearing about your experiences. Simply send us an email with your story, and a photo if you have one. We’ll edit your story, if necessary, and we can withhold your name if you prefer. Email us at: webmaster@kidney.ca.

Atlantic Canada Kidney Stories

Dot MillerI am a fighter. I am an active person. I do what I can, whenever I can. I keep moving through the walk of life.My name is Dot Miller. I am 65 and have been on dialysis for 19 years. I was diagnosed with Alport syndrome when I was only 10 years old. This inherited disease affects the kidneys, eyes, and ears. Since my kidneys failed I havereceived two transplants but neither was successful. I will never try for another...

In Memory

Wendy Briere recalls that prior to entering kindergarten, she had been diagnosed with what was then known as “Bright’s Disease”, an acute or chronic kidney disease that, if caught early enough, is currently manageable. Patients don’t necessarily progress to kidney failure. This was not the case for Wendy. She had needed two hearing aids when she was 9 years old. Nine years after having first gotten them, when returning to see if she could function without them, Wendy was immediately passed on to one specialist and then another – a nephrologist. She was sent for numerous tests. In her teens, when expecting to learn about improvements in her hearing loss, she actually discovered that her kidneys were failing. Within 6 months, she started dialysis treatment within a hospital setting...

In the year 1998, at the age of 30, I decided to join the Navy. It was then and there that the medical staff discovered something terrible. During a routine urine test for protein, the results came back with a 700 mg/d reading (normal values for urinary protein are less than 300 mg/d). The acting physician, thinking this was a mistake, requested that I wait and provide another urine sample. An hour later, the results were worse- 800- and it was at that moment the powers that be decided to ban me for life from the military....

Dr. Hughes’ involvement with The Kidney Foundation began in the 1960s when he first experienced kidney failure and started dialysis. From 1985 to 1986, he was National President of The Kidney Foundation and in 1990 he wedded Nancy Hughes, with whom he canvassed every March for The Kidney Foundation’s annual fundraising drive while they lived in Winnipeg...

Mr. Clémendot has a mission: to demonstrate to other kidney patients that peritoneal dialysis (PD) has not taken away the freedom to sail. He hopes to be an inspiration to the 1,700,000 dialysis patients around the world and show that you can continue to live life to the fullest despite kidney disease...